New Lansdowne St.

This building will only look decent at nite all lit up and will add to the streetscape and the entertainment district that Landsdowne St is known for
 
It looks like "Entertainment District in a Box".

Sad that such a thing was done to a street that acquired its reputation naturally.
 
What the ???

J. Geils Band returns to kick-start The House of Blues
By Jed Gottlieb

The House of Blues is taking us on a roller coaster ride of rock ?n? roll emotion.

First it announced it was opening (yay!). Then it revealed the first show would be the Gipsy Kings (boo!). Then it pulled a switcheroo by sliding in a reunited J. Geils Band for Thursday?s inaugural show (yay again!).

We love the Gipsy Kings in a ?I lost the wife?s ?Buena Vista Social Club? CD and the dinner party is about to start? kind of way. But the Kings can?t play the blues. They also don?t have a dude named Magic Dick in the band.

Humbly, frontman supreme Peter Wolf agrees that a sold-out Geils show is a much better fit to launch the Lansdowne Street club than eight guys strumming flamenco guitars. On his way to rehearse with eponymous guitarist Jay Geils, harmonica cat Dick, keyboardist Seth Justman, bassman Danny Klein and guest guitarist Duke Levine and drummer Marty Richards, Wolf brought us up to speed on how this one-off reunion by Boston?s beloved blues-rockers was going.

Herald: When we heard that Gipsy Kings were opening the venue, we were bummed out. We thought the only choices to kick things off were you guys or Aerosmith or maybe the Dropkick Murphys. Are you psyched to be the first band to test drive the place?

Wolf: First, I thank you for saying that we?re right to kick things off. When I heard that the building was going to stay a music venue, that it was going to be 24/7 music, I thought that was great. There are too many places closing, so it?s good to have a place opening. But I also think it?s important to have the little, independent clubs in Somerville and Cambridge stay open. I?ve always been a fan of the small clubs around town.

Was it easy to sell you on the reunion idea?

At first I thought it was going to be a closed-to-the-public, invite type of thing, then we sat back and watched it morph into a regular gig. It will be great. We?ve been rehearsing, doing what it takes, getting together to go through the repertoire. Doing a Geils show takes a lot more than just getting up there and singing. It takes a lot more commitment. It?s a physical and musical commitment that?s pretty demanding. It?s not Crosby, Stills and Nash. Nothing against those guys, but there?s no sitting down at a Geils show. It?s full tilt.

The Geils band has a long history with the blues. Will you be pulling out some stuff from deep in your catalog?

Yeah, the Geils band has extremely strong blues roots, and I?m sure that will come out. I remember I used to have Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker stay at my apartment back in the day when we first started. I was kind of Muddy Waters? unofficial valet in the New England area. I?d take him around and play him records. As to specifically what we?ll play, it?s hard to tell exactly what will happen when the lights go down low. We?ll probably be figuring out the set list right before we go on.

After you?re done with the J. Geils Band again, will you get back to work on your new solo album?

Yeah, I?m just finishing it up and I?m excited. It?s got Neko Case, Merle Haggard and Shelby Lynne on it. And all the guys I?ve been working with for a while, Duke Levine and Larry Campbell from Dylan?s band. The lineup is incredible. After it?s out, there?ll be a nice tour of New England and beyond. But nothing else Geils-related is planned.
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Box office open today.

First show tomorrow.

About 6 different construction crews on site.

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How's the site look today?

They have flash ads on Boston.com's homepage that say that it's opening this week.
 
Hey! Don't anyone go to the House of Blues tonight... come to Bill's Bar and see my band, around 10 or 10:30. I promise you as many 19 year old girls as you could possibly want!
 
I've got tickets to 3 Doors Down on Monday. Way overpriced, but I'm looking forward to checking it out.

*edit* KZ, I'd love to, but I'm in Portland until tomorrow afternoon
 
kz1000ps said:
Hey! Don't anyone go to the House of Blues tonight... come to Bill's Bar and see my band, around 10 or 10:30. I promise you as many 19 year old girls as you could possibly want!
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Cover?

Which band member are you?
 
Cover I believe is $01 (yeah it's overpriced).... and I'm Phil the drummer in the band Gentlemen Hall.
 
KZ,

when is your next gig? I need some of these 19 year olds :cool:
 
I'm going to sidestep the piles of 19-year-old undergrads just this once because I realized I never knew why the original HoB closed in Harvard Square. Why did it? I have fond memories of certain dotcom companies in the late 90s holding excellent private functions upstairs.
 
I don't know for sure, but I suspect they just considered it too small a venue once they grew into a national chain.
 
Last night:

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And the space right next to Bill's Bar... we loaded our equipment out through here.

Looking towards Lansdowne:

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Looking towards the highway.. there's my babies!

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And just to show what y'all missed last night...

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Was it free white t-shirt & crayon night or that just something kids do nowadays?
 
Haha, it was a black light/draw-on-yourself night.
 
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